I know how frustrating it can be to milk a moving goat! It was smart you put a milk stand together. Trying to milk a goat while she is just tethered is pretty hard unless she is accustomed to that. I would suggest putting a hobble on one of her back legs to keep her from kicking over the bucket or stepping in the milk. My first milker was used to being milked with a milking machine, which is very fast and she would snarf down her grain in a flash and be done. When we bought her I was a total newbie milking and it would take me 30 minutes to get her milked, not to mention the milk on the floor, me and everywhere ;-). So, I was told to tie one of her back legs to the milk stand and try that. They won't kick as much with one leg immobilized. They feel off balance if they can't pick up both legs, so it keeps that other foot rooted. If that doesn't work tie both back legs to the milk stand. I have a metal milk stand that has brackets for this. Eventually, she will learn that if she behaves you can release her leg(s). Also, maybe you could give her a bit more grain until you get the hang of it so she will be concentrating on her food longer. You could check with her previous owner to see how much she was fed. But, since you said that she hadn't been milked in a while, you could gradually build up the amount she is getting so she will have more to eat and more time for you to milk. I tried all sorts of things to try to get my goat to settle down, and it took about 2 weeks for her to adjust to me and for me to get better and quicker at milking.

Good luck!
Bonnie

Thank you Bonnie! It really helps to hear your experience. My other concern is if I am not getting all of the milk since it is such a battle, will she dry up? I guess if she starts to taper off, once we get the hang of it we can build her supply back up. I will try tethering her legs also. She is very sweet, but she does not want me messing around down there! I am trying to pet her alot and get closer and closer to her udder to maybe desensitize her.
Thank you again!

Some of the not wanting to be touched near her udder is lack of trust. She has been let go for awhile and got away from having someone milk her. You're just going to have to touch her everytime you're around her to get her used to you and being touched again. (You don't want to go grabbing or rubbing her udder everytime, just her back and sides until she gets more comfortable with you being closer to her flanks.)

My Uncle used to milk cows using a saucepan and dumped the milk into the pail as it got full. He was fairly fast at milking his Guernseys, usually taking care of two cows in less than forty minutes. I would recommend you try the saucepan trick to cut down on spills due to pail getting kicked or bumped. At worst you will loose only a cup or two.

If she doesn't start to settle down after a few weeks, you might have bought a goat that just doesn't take to milking well. (That could be part of the reason the previous owners sold her.) If that turns out to be the case, you might need to see if she will take kids. If she will, then you can let her nurse orphaned kids, otherwise you might have to plan on getting another goat, or plan on breeding the young one.

Kevin

Since you're on the subject of milking a goat...I too just received some goats one of which is producing milk. The lady I got them from said she'd had them 5 years and none had kidded. My question is how on earth then is this one goat producing milk if she has not kidded or been milked? Is is possible for her to have a false pregnancy or to have miscarried? Also, if I do not want to continue milking her, any suggestions on drying her up? I'm new to goat owning and she's not very friendly so any advice would be great.

Hi

You might try to have someone pick up a front leg while you are milking her. Also try the other side. Goats, and cows get used to being milked from one side or the other. Last year I had La Loca goat. I had a terrible time breaking her to milk. My experience has been that if you tie their leg back they can pull muscles in their hind quarters. So I put my stand against a fence, and put a rope from the front of the stand the length of her other side, and tied it off to the fence in the back. Wasn't long till she got better.

The only real solution is just keep at it twice a day and she will eventually get used to you and the process.

Yes goats can just start lactating. If you stop milking her she will dry up naturally. She will be miserable for a few days but will get over it.